WHO’s Updated Oral Health Survey Brings Dental Disease Into National Health Focus

International experts and WHO collaborating centres contributed to the revised module, which reflects current evidence on oral disease measurement, surveillance and public health priorities.

Countries need reliable information about people's oral health to understand which services are missing, where prevention needs more attention and whether policies are making a difference. A new publication in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization presents a revised WHO oral health module that makes collecting this information more practical within national health surveys. Updated in 2024, the module brings a contemporary approach to measuring oral diseases at the population level, giving governments evidence they can use to shape policy and track the implementation of oral health programmes.

Bringing oral health into the wider health picture

The module forms part of WHO's STEPwise approach to noncommunicable disease risk factor surveillance, known as STEPS, a widely used, standardized framework for collecting information on behavioural and biological risk factors associated with noncommunicable diseases, including oral diseases. Gathering oral health information within this framework helps countries examine dental disease alongside other health conditions and the risk factors they share, creating a more connected picture of population health. WHO revised the module to address gaps in reliable, policy-relevant oral health data and help national surveillance systems respond to current global monitoring priorities.

Dr Søren Brostrøm, Director of WHO's Department of Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health, described the updated module as a practical way for countries to integrate oral diseases into broader NCD surveillance. His message centres on the value of collecting these data together: decision-makers gain evidence that can support better decisions, more effective prevention strategies and stronger health systems. For countries deciding how to improve oral health services, that connection makes surveillance useful beyond reporting disease levels, because it can also inform policy choices and strengthen the monitoring of programme implementation.

A simpler survey that more health workers can deliver

One of the most useful changes is the module's design for routine STEPS surveys, with a streamlined questionnaire and a simplified clinical assessment that trained survey staff can carry out without being oral health specialists. The questionnaire focuses on policy-relevant oral health indicators and access to care, making the information more useful for understanding service needs and planning responses. The brief clinical component can be conducted by trained oral health or non-oral health providers, giving countries greater flexibility in organizing data collection within their existing survey systems.

Combining people's self-reported information with a simple clinical assessment in a representative population sample gives countries two complementary sources of evidence about oral health. This approach supports decisions grounded in population data and strengthens the monitoring of oral diseases within broader NCD surveillance. Its practical design is particularly relevant to implementation, because the assessment does not depend entirely on specialist staff and can become part of an established survey process, helping countries collect oral health information through the same framework used for other NCD risk factors.

Connecting national evidence with global priorities

International experts and WHO collaborating centres contributed to the revised module, which reflects current evidence on oral disease measurement, surveillance and public health priorities. Its questionnaire and clinical assessment align with the monitoring framework of the WHO Global Oral Health Action Plan 2023–2030 and with global burden of disease requirements, helping national data collection serve wider reporting needs. The update gives countries a practical foundation for understanding oral disease in their populations, informing policy and assessing how oral health programmes and policies are being put into practice.